


The Care and Keeping of Kaiju

by NeverAndAlways



Series: A Kaiju in the Shatterdome [1]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: (not the one that ate Hannibal), Baby Kaiju, Gen, Kaiju, Mentioned Newton Geiszler/Hermann Gottlieb, Newt and Hermann raise a baby kaiju, Post-Canon, but what the hell, i know i'm not the first person to write something like this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-26
Updated: 2014-01-28
Packaged: 2018-01-10 02:21:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1153626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeverAndAlways/pseuds/NeverAndAlways
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Wow. I didn't intend for there to be so much dialogue in this...once I got them started talking, they just kept going.<br/>Oh well. Thanks for reading; I'll get the next chapter posted as soon as I can!</p><p>(also, kudos to anyone who catches the tiny Star Trek reference at the end of the chapter)</p>
        </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The sun had barely risen when Newton and Hermann left the Shatterdome. Their destination was a fifteen-minute helicopter flight away, and Hermann wasted no time reminding Newt of just how much he hated flying. His protests were all but smothered, however, by Newt's excited rambling, and he quickly gave up. 

"So I was thinking maybe we could, like, get one of the eyes or something, the eyes are so cool. You know kaiju have multiple fovea? Human eyes only have one and I think eagles have two, but kaiju have like four so their vision is amazing. It'd be like a person picking out an individual grain of sand in the middle of a beach. At night. Or maybe we could take part of the tongue, 'cause- oh hey, we're here!"

Newt hopped out of the helicopter as soon as it touched down. Hermann quickly thanked the pilot, then clambered out after him. 

They were on the outskirts of Hong Kong, at the site of a kaiju carcass. It was still mostly intact, thanks in part to the tall barbed-wire fence that surrounded it, but it gave off a potent smell. Hermann wrinkled his nose as he approached. Newt, on the other hand, was fairly skipping along; he glanced over his shoulder now and then, as if to check that Hermann hadn't vanished. 

"C'mon Herm, get a move on!" The mathematician rolled his eyes. 

The pair stopped at a gate in the fence. Newt dug his ID card out of his pocket and handed it to the tall, bored-looking guard. 

"Geiszler, Newton." he recited. "Astrobiology, Pacific Rim K-Science division." The guard peered at the card, then at him, and handed it back. "Go ahead."

Newt hurried through the gate like an excited dog; Hermann was quickly cleared, and hobbled through after him. When he caught up to Newt, the scientist was already fidgeting with the catch on the toolbox he'd brought. He opened it and gave Hermann a pair of gloves and a scalpel. "You wanna start on the eye? There's something over there I'm gonna check out." he gestured toward the tail. Hermann suppressed a sneer, but took the tools anyway and started toward the kaiju's head.

Several minutes later, as he was intermittently slicing at the gunmetal-blue flesh and swinging his cane at circling crows, he heard Newt give a shout. 

"Herm! HERMANN!! DUDE, COME LOOK AT THIS!!" 

Hermann gratefully dropped his scalpel and limped down to the tail. Newt was fairly vibrating with excitement, and gesturing wildly; laying midway down the tail was a cluster of ten or fifteen flattened, grayish objects, each about five feet long. A few feet away was another one, pill-shaped and slightly larger than the others. Hermann stared down at it. "...What is it?" 

"It's an EGG! I didn't even know kaiju laid eggs, this is so awesome!" 

"Is it alive..?"

"What? No. I mean, probably not. Can we get it on the helicopter? I wanna take it back to the lab."

"Certainly not."

"Oh, come on! This'd be a perfect chance to study a kaiju embryo! We've only ever looked at adult kaiju, and I don't-"

"Alright, alright. Fine. Do what you want. As long as we can get out of here."

Newt beamed. "I knew there was a reason I liked you."


	2. Chapter 2

Back at the Shatterdome, Newt fussed over the egg as though he'd laid it himself. He had enlisted the help of a pair of guards to load the egg onto a furniture dolly and wheel it inside. He went ahead of them, walking backwards and coaching them around the detritus of the lab.

"Okay, careful...watch out for that table, you're going to- no, your other side! Don't let it roll too much..." Hermann wisely kept out of the way.

At last the egg was nestled snugly into a crate. The eyeball floated in a specimen tank nearby, staring balefully out at the world, and various other pieces of kaiju littered the tables. Newt stood in the midst of it all, looking like Christmas came early. Hermann limped up beside him and looked around. "Kaiju groupie." he grumbled. Normally this would have at least earned him a scowl, but Newt was in such a good mood that he merely kissed Hermann's jaw and chuckled, "You know it." Hermann sighed and limped away.

"I'm going to the mess hall. No guts on my side of the lab." he said over his shoulder.

"Sure. Whatever, Herms." 

The door clanged shut, and Newt looked around, gleefully rubbing his hands together. "Alright. Where to start..." he muttered. His gaze fell on the egg, and he smiled. He quickly donned a pair of gloves and picked up a knife. His head was buzzing with ideas and excitement, not to mention lack of sleep. Brandishing the knife, he ran a hand over the eggshell in search of a place to cut- but just as he was about to sink the blade into it, he stopped. Was it just his imagination, or had something moved...? He rubbed his hand over the eggshell again, and sure enough, after a moment or two, there was an answering movement from inside. His heart skipped a beat.

"...Holy shit." Newt pressed his ear against the rough gray shell and closed his eyes. 

<ba-dum...ba-dum...ba-dum...>

He opened his eyes. "Holy SHIT." 

The egg was alive! He had to tell Hermann- no, don't tell Hermann. He'd want to get rid of it. But what to do with it? Dissecting it was out of the question now, and he couldn't exactly release it to fend for itself...suddenly his eyes widened: why not hatch the egg? Imagine having a LIVE kaiju to study! The idea was too much to pass up. Newt dragged the egg into a nearby storage room, where he put together a makeshift nest of jackets, pillows, and some of the mathematician's old sweaters (surely he wouldn't mind). Then, after some digging around, he unearthed a space heater and set it up facing the egg. He had just barely finished all this when Hermann returned from the mess hall. 

Hermann shuffled into the lab to find a breathless and slightly guilty-looking Newt slicing cheerfully away at a piece of Kaiju heart. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion. 

"Hi, Herm!" The scientist quipped. He cut through an artery without looking, splashing blue kaiju blood all over the table. 

Hermann curled his lip at the sight. Newton was clearly up to something, but he knew it was useless to ask. He'd find out sooner or later, anyway. Instead, he turned on his heel and walked back to his chalkboard, shaking his head silently. Of all the idiots in the world, he was stuck with this one...


	3. Chapter 3

A month went by, then another. Newt snuck into the storage room as often as he could to turn the egg, move the space heater, rearrange the nest (Hermann would have called him a mother hen). Little by little, the egg began to change. The shell went from dull granite-gray to a pale, dusty blue; the baby kaiju (chick? Pup? Kitten? He'd have to look that up) began to move, so much that Newt had to corral the egg inside a ring of boxes to stop it from rolling out into the lab; and it chirped. Although he was embarrassed to admit it, Newt had begun talking to the egg during his visits: he would greet it when he walked through the door, describe what he was doing, talk about his day or what he'd had for lunch or that stupid thing Hermann had said to him. He never expected it to talk back, but it did. If he paused long enough, the egg would start to squeak and chirp as though asking him to continue. He was delighted.

But it didn't last long. Hermann became suspicious; it got harder and harder for Newt to weasel his way out of the mathematician's questions. Nearly every time he tried to slip away to check on the egg, he was interrogated with whys and wheres. He dodged them as best he could, but it all came to a boiling point one evening: Hermann was engrossed in a particularly large calculus equation; numbers and symbols scrawled like a map across his chalkboard, and he stood with his back to the lab, leaning on his cane and muttering feverishly. Newt had finished his work nearly an hour before; slowly, so as not to catch Hermann's attention, he got up from his chair and snuck over to the door. But as he turned to check one last time, he found the mathematician standing behind him, just inches away, his face unreadable. Newt all but jumped out of his skin. 

"Jeez, Herm! Are you tryna give me a heart attack?!"

"I need to know what it is you've been hiding from me, Newton." Hermann's voice was eerily calm. Newt put on what he hoped was an easy smile, but it probably came out as more of a grimace.

"What're you talking about, man? I'm not hiding-"

"I'm not stupid, Geiszler. If you won't tell me, I'll report you to the Marshal and you can tell it to him." 

"You wouldn't do that!"

"I will, if you don't tell me." Hermann inched closer. Newt squirmed. 

"Woah, hey, personal space, Herm, we've talked about this-"

"Newton, please. This is not the place for keeping secrets. If there is something going on, I need to know."

Newt stared thoughtfully at the older man's face for a moment. Deep brown eyes stared back at him. 

At last he spoke. "Alright...alright. Fine. I'll show you. Just...promise you won't get mad?"

 

 

~**  ☆☆  **~

Reluctantly, Newt led Hermann to the storage room. His heart felt like a lead weight in his chest; it was all over. Hermann would have a fit when he saw the egg. He paused for a long moment at the door before looking back at Hermann. "Okay. I'm gonna open the door, but...but just let me explain before you get really mad, okay...?" Hermann gave a skeptical nod.

Newt turned the handle and let the door swing open. 

There was a long, heavy silence; Hermann's already-pale face blanched, and he closed his eyes. "Oh mein Gott. Is that...what I think it is?"

"Yeah. It's the kaiju egg I found a couple months back...I-I'm sorry Herms, I should've told-"

"Yes. You should have. What on Earth posessed you to take in a bloody KAIJU-"

Newt pulled him into the storage room and slammed the door. "Don't say it so loud, dude! What if someone heard you?!"

"Good! Let them hear!" Hermann was gesturing with his cane, his eyes wide and cold and angry. "You have brought a dangerous creature into the Shatterdome! Have you forgotten what these things are capable of?! Or perhaps you've forgotten the months we spent fighting them, or the sheer number of people they killed! YOU nearly died from Drifting with one, and it was DEAD! What were you thinking, you imbecile?!"

Newt took a deep breath before answering. "I was hoping we could study it, Mister High-and-Mighty. I have this theory-"

"Oh, of course you do."

"Shut up! Just let me explain, okay? I have a theory that since the Breach was destroyed, the hatchling will be cut off from the hive mind. If I'm right, and I'm pretty sure I'm right, that means we- I- can tame it!" Both men were now shouting, nearly face-to-face.

"'If' you're right?? You are insane, you can't TAME a kaiju, any more than one could tame a, a crocodile, or a bear! It is a wild, bloodthirsty creature!"

"But I can sure as hell try, can't I?!"

"Try, and most likely be killed in the attempt!"

"Fine! Then I'll be dead, and you'll be happy."

Suddenly, a loud CRACK interrupted them. Newt spun around. The egg had rolled out of its fabric nest and bumped into one of the crates. A long crack spiderwebbed over the shell and even as they watched, the tip of a scaly gray tail poked through. 

"Holy shit." whispered Newt. "It's hatching."

 

 

 

~**  ◇◇  ★★  ◇◇  **~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I didn't intend for there to be so much dialogue in this...once I got them started talking, they just kept going.  
> Oh well. Thanks for reading; I'll get the next chapter posted as soon as I can!
> 
> (also, kudos to anyone who catches the tiny Star Trek reference at the end of the chapter)


	4. Chapter 4

Hermann fumbled for the door handle. "That's it," he hissed. "I'm going to find the Marshal."

Newt grabbed his sleeve. "Hermann, don't." his voice was unusually sharp. "At least give it the benefit of the doubt. I mean, look at US. We hated each other when we first met, but we turned out fine."

Another CRACK; the fissure in the shell widened, and a snout poked through.

"Look, I know this was probably a stupid idea-"

"'Probably'?"

"-But we can figure it out. Please?"

Hermann sighed. "Very well. But it's your funeral if this goes wrong."

Newt gave him a brief smile. "You're the best." Then he darted away to sit beside the egg. They watched in silence for a few minutes before Hermann spoke again.

"We hated each other when we first met..." he mused. "Who's to say I don't still hate you?" Newt glanced over his shoulder; just as he thought, there was a faint smile on the older man's face. He gave a snort of laughter.

"You don't hate me."

"Oh, you think so?"

"I know so, dude. And I can give you a million reasons." behind him, a slab of eggshell fell to the floor. "Like last month, when you used your only day off to take me to lunch at that sushi place even though you hate sushi." another piece of eggshell chipped off, and a clawed foot emerged through the gap. "Or how you don't even yell at me anymore when I draw on your chalkboard..." a single crack began to circle the shell, widening as it went.

"Er, Newton.."

"...or how you helped me take samples from that dead kaiju..."

"Newt."

"...and Tendo told me yesterday that you-"

"DOCTOR GEISZLER."

"What?!"

Hermann gestured urgently with his cane. Newt spun around just in time to see the egg break in two, exposing a wet, scaly gray flank. "Ohmygodohmygod!" the scientist whispered. The hatchling paused for a moment, breathing heavily. Then, with one final lurch, it heaved itself free of the egg. A pair of bulbous yellow eyes blinked in the bright fluorescent light as it took in its new surroundings. Newt was overjoyed; Hermann, quite the opposite. This little creature was just as ugly as any other kaiju he'd seen, if not more so. Its scrawny body sported thick, pillar-like legs with wide, clawed feet, and two smaller arms with hand-like appendages sprouted between them. A row of shingle-like scales ran from neck to tail; its head, which seemed too large for the rest of it, bore a bony crest, a long, toothy snout, and huge eyes overshadowed by a ridge of sharp scales. It was a face only a mother could love- and Newton certainly seemed to. The scientist beamed as he took in every detail of the hatchling. "Hey buddy," he said softly. "Welcome to the world."

~**  ☆☆  **~

Newt couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so happy. Here was a kaiju- the very thing he'd spent the last eight years of his life studying- right in front of him. And it wasn't even trying to kill him or eat him. He reached out a tentative hand toward the hatchling. Behind him, he could almost hear Hermann cringe.

"Newton, don't-" 

The baby kaiju immediately craned its neck toward Newt's hand, its eyes dilating with curiosity. Newt made small, soothing noises as it inched closer to him. Suddenly, its mouth opened. Hermann drew a sharp breath; but, to the surprise of both men, the hatchling was gentle. A long, blue tongue unfurled, then unfurled again. Three electric-blue tendrils slid over Newt's hand, both tasting and feeling. Newt's eyes widened. "Hi there." he whispered. The hatchling recoiled in surprise. Newt opened his mouth to speak, and quickly closed it again. There was a prickling feeling just behind his eyes; like a diluted version of what he'd felt in the Drift. It formed itself into...a word?

《WHO?》

Newt was floored. He stared at the baby kaiju, and it stared right back. The word still floated in his mind, insistent and questioning.

《WHO?》

The scientist put a hand to his chest. "I...I'm Newt." The hatchling cocked its head.

《NEWT》

"Right. And, uh..." Newt turned and made a frantic 'come here' motion at Hermann. The older man hesitated, then limped forward a few steps. "This," Newt continued, "is uh...this is Hermann."

《HERMANN》

The baby kaiju looked from one man to the other, as though thinking. Then, seeming satisfied, it tilted its head back and opened its toothy mouth wide.

《HUNGRY.》

~**  ★▪▪★  **~


End file.
